Reef Angel Forum

Toggle switches

Hi guys, dont know what happened with the thread lol. I created and deleted without seeing what went on.

Can you guys please advise on the following:

I want to create switches that will over-ride the return pump, skimmer and flow pumps individually.
I would like them to be momentary switches that do a software toggle (then I can get pretty looking switches )

Basically I want the ability to switch those units off without going through my ADSL router.
We have some hefty storms that mean I unplug my router for its own safety. I then cant get to the RA head unit as its buried behind my cabinet. This would make it easy to do maintenance in that situation.

How difficult is this to code?
Should I just use normal switches and avoid the issue completely?
If I get switches that illuminate, do I have to feed them power seperately?
Do I have to worry about the ratings of the switches - I wouldnt think so?

I have an idea in my head but I suck at electronics so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Should be pretty easy to code. I would get momentary switches. As far as illuminating I think you would need to provide power and not sure that how that would affect the IO module. It might have enough power on the line to not be an issue. Roberto could provide more info.

You will need to provide power to the switches if you want them illuminated.
The ATO ports would work for you, but you only have 2 ports. The I/O expansion module would give you another 6 ports.
Code is pretty simple. We can hook you up with that.
Just a simple momentary switch would do it. You don't need to worry about ratings. We would be only capturing signal and virtually zero current is traveling through the contacts.

Awesome

This is for my upgrade tank. I want to have it up in about 4 years time but I'm going to start getting the RA gear now.
I currently run a std RA Plus system.

Skimmer, Reactor, Flow pump, Osmolater, Doser, fans, heaters on the relay.
Temp probes in the tank, sump and room (I'm a geek and get a kick out of monitoring them)
PH Probe
Input1 a float switch that kills my skimmer if the sump level raises. I kept flooding the skimmer cup by mistake
Input2 is a small relay that tells the RA when there is a power failure. This triggers the RA to turn off everything except my doser and return pump..... and turns the skimmer and reactor on for 2 minutes every 30minutes in that situation.....go ReefAngel

So on the upgrade my wishlist is:

I/O extension

1. cabinet door - turns on cabinet LED with a fade up.
2. Skimmer switch -as discussed, over-ride toggle for the skimmer
3. Flow switch - as discussed, over-ride toggle for the flow pumps
4. Return Switch - as discussed, over-ride toggle for the return pump

Dimming expander - this depends.... If I go DIY LED again it'll be for them and the fans would be hard switched.

1. Cabinet LEDs
2. Cabinet fans
3. Sump fans
4. Hood fans

If I get a humidity sensor i would trigger the cabinet fans off that....another wishlist item.

Power Extension.

1. cabinet LEDs (not sure if this is viable.....i would ideally like some LED strip lights from our Home Depot store)
2. Cabinet Fans
3. Sump Fans
4. Hood Fans

Multi Level sensor:

1. Sump level high - turns off skimmer
2. ATO reservoir Low - kills osmolater
3. Display level Hi - Kills return
4. spare for now.
The level sensor is on the dream list. I can get by with the display and skimmer ones on the std inputs no problem.

Quite a list but it will be awesome
I'm already mocked because my tank is only 80L total volume and it has more gadgets than water.

sorry and the 2 std dimming channels to run 2x Jeboa RW or WP pumps

Cool. Sounds like way overkill for a nano but for sure, lots of fun. I might recommend having the momentary switches be toggle rather then momentary. It would simplify things and be more definitive that something you want is on or off. Either would work though.

This one will be bigger

The more I think about it, I think you are correct.
In my head the switch would light up when it was activated, but that would mean not only powering it but turning that power on and off depending on its current state if I'm not mistaken?

It would be awesome though lol.

To heck with the bigger tank, I want to see all that stuff on a 20G.

For the cabinet LED's, consider something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BH9 ... UTF8&psc=1

Definitely keep us up to date on this build. Those are some great ideas!

--Colin

Haha thanks, I'll find a pic of the current tank....its pretty funny with all the gizmo's.

I'll look at those LED's, thankyou, much appreciated.

Would this be an option for the switch?

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinf ... ifications

It would appear to be momentary and latching so I could program it like a normal switch and have the aesthetics of the momentary switch.

Yeap. Those would work